Books › Chats on Violins, 1905 › scan 138
Scan 138
Chats on Violins, 1905
8 lines. Read by computer on 3 September 2026. Printed page 116. See the scan on archive.org.
1and, finding favour with the jailer's daughter, she is said to have supplied him with wood and varnish. Judging from the existing number of "Prison Fiddles" Joseph del Gesù must have been incarcerated the whole of his life.
3MONTAGANA, Domenico, Cremona and Venice, 1700-1740. A talented pupil of Antonius Stradivarius. He worked for a short time in Cremona after leaving his master's workshop, and later removed to Venice.
5Most of the Italian violin-makers in those days adopted some sign by which their house might be easily remembered and recognised, and their choice of a name, as a rule, was mostly made from amongst the Calendar of Saints. Montagana, however, boldly left the Calendar of Saints well alone, and adopted "Cremona" as his sign.
7This maker has also suffered severely from the wicked habit of false labelling. Many a fine fiddle labelled Bergonzi or Andrea Guarneri, is really the grand work of this "mighty Venetian." Mr Hart says:
The computer misreads some letters and numbers. Where a name matters to you, read the scan.